


the one where there's a babysitter's club

by Adri_James



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Babysitters Club AU, Fluff, I have never read a Babysitter's Club book in my life, Liv wanted this, Loki and Bucky are friends, M/M, also ignore my uncreative title, but I finally fine tuned this, haven't written Steve/Loki in forever
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-03
Updated: 2018-05-03
Packaged: 2019-05-01 13:55:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14522070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Adri_James/pseuds/Adri_James
Summary: Steve and his friends have a Babysitter's Club. Loki's just here for the free food. And to check out Steve.





	the one where there's a babysitter's club

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, so...hi. I haven't posted anything in a really, really long time and honestly I wish I wrote more fanfiction. I have so many ideas and I do actually work on things but I've been working on my own personal projects more. But whenever a new Marvel movie comes out I get inspired so here's a little prompt I got forever ago.
> 
> I'm pretty sure it was Olivia that wanted this one. It was cute and easy. Never read one of those babysitter books but I had a basic idea.
> 
> No promises...........but I have been working on two bigger Steve/Loki projects. I'm hoping I can keep motivated enough to work on both of those as well as my own stuff. But like I said--there's no guarantees. I hope this at least cheers someone up having a rough time after Infinity War. Enjoy.
> 
>  
> 
> Come talk to me on  Tumblr 

Steve rings the bell. He shifts the box in his hands, Bucky leaning against the wall with the parts to the white board piled in his arms. There’s a raised voice inside that’s undeniably Thor. Steve rocks patiently on his feet. Bucky visibly slumps and looks petulantly at Steve.

“You know, you could ride the bus,” Steve says.

“I didn’t say anything.”

The door swings open, Thor’s smile bright and beaming.

“Welcome, friends!” he says, ushering them inside.

Bucky goes straight for the living room, leaving Steve and Thor lingering in the foyer. He audibly dumps the white board and stand on the floor.

“I ordered pizza,” Thor says proudly. Steve follows him into the living room. “Clint and Natasha are already here. Bruce, will probably be late. Stark seems to be taking his time.”

“That’s alright. We can get set up while we wait.”

Steve smiles in greeting at Clint and Natasha lounging in the loveseat on the other side of the room. He sets his box down, eyeing where Bucky has sat on the floor and abandoned the white board. He’s already made himself at home and put his feet up on the coffee table.

It takes him a moment before Steve notices the figure stretched out across the largest couch. The long legs, crossed over one another, connect to slim hips and a thin frame. Loki looks up from his book, the spark in his eyes making Steve feel as though he’s been caught looking. He has such a pleased atmosphere about him. Sated and relaxed like a cat.

“Rogers,” Loki practically purrs at him. Steve feels a chill run up his spine. “Always good to see you.”

“Oh.” Steve gives Loki a patient smile. “Hey, Loki.”

It was the only frustrating part of having club meetings at Thor’s place. Steve didn’t have any personal vendetta against Thor’s younger brother. He and Loki had a few classes together and—surprisingly—Loki and Bucky were pretty good friends. Or—Steve assumed they were.

“Are--” Steve feels his face get warm at the way Loki looks up at him. “Are you joining us? Club meetings are really— _you know_ —meant to be club members only.”

Loki blinks innocently at him, smirking. He points lazily at Bucky who doesn’t even look up from his phone.

“James is here.”

“Steve’s my ride,” Bucky says.

Thor snorts through his nose, reading the situation.

“Loki, go to your room.”

“Make me.”

Thor rolls his eyes, giving Steve a defeated shrug. Steve smiles and shrugs back at him. Hopefully Loki would be less antagonistic today.

Steve drags his eyes away from Loki and looks sourly at Bucky.

“You know,” he says, nudging him with his foot, “you could _earn_ your ride home. And, I don’t know, set up the equipment you just dumped all over the floor?”

Bucky stares up at him. He sighs, defeated, and pushes himself up. Steve smiles, satisfied as Bucky starts setting up the white board. Thor emerges from the kitchen with plates and napkins. Steve sits on the couch in front of Loki’s feet, unpacking his supplies. Natasha nudges his arm with the past week’s evaluation cards.

“Not a bad week. Probably should re-evaluate which kids Stark is capable of handling though.”

Steve sighs, flipping through the first few and setting them aside. “Is it too late to kick him out?”

Natasha smirks, pushing herself up from where she’d been leaning against Clint. “At least the kids like him. Sometimes. And he hasn’t set anyone’s kitchen on fire.”

“That was once,” Clint grumbles. “And it was a hand towel. Easily put out.”

“Uh-huh.”

The door bell starts ringing repeatedly. Thor looks up irritably. “That would be Stark,” he huffs, pushing himself up. Bucky finishes setting up the white board and lays back down on the floor, setting his feet on the arm rest where Loki’s head is resting. Steve sighs as Tony’s voice fills the foyer.

“The place looks great as always, Hammer Time, love the pile of gold you keep at the front door.”

Bruce enters the room with Tony’s arm around his shoulders. Thor follows closely behind with pizzas in tow. Tony claps his hands together, rubbing them.

“What are we waiting around for?” Tony says, grinning. “Let’s get this meeting started!”

Steve shakes his head. Clint and Natasha unravel themselves from each other, Thor unceremoniously dumping the pizzas in Clint’s lap.

Loki nudges Steve with his foot.

He turns to look at him, Loki giving him a sly smile. “Apologies.”

 

**

 

“All I’m saying is that it’s something we need to work on.”

“Note to self,” Tony repeats back sarcastically. “Parents’ satisfaction is more important than the kids’.”

“Literally, not what he said,” Natasha says.

Steve rubs the side of his face. He wasn’t sure why explaining anything to Tony had to take up nearly an hour of their time but Tony just really didn’t like being told he was wrong. He watches Tony and Natasha going back and forth at it, his gaze eventually falling on Loki where he’s still lounging on the couch. He and Bucky are taking turns sharing things on their phones. Loki’s eyes flicker up to meet Steve’s a smile spreading across his face, Steve looking away quickly, Clint now joined into the argument.

Tony places a hand on his chest. “Thor has more favorites than me. It hurts.”

“It’s not a competition!” Clint yells.

Steve takes the moment to step back in. “Alright, let’s not--”

“Well I feel like everyone else is parading their evaluations about my head--”

“Tony,” Bruce interjects. “All Steve is saying is that your popularity rating with the parents matters more than with the kids. Especially with any of our newer families. The parents are the ones asking for you to come back. You can work on winning the kids over later.”

“Thank you, Bruce.” 

Bruce’s official title was treasurer, but he handled a majority of the club’s more ‘behind-the-scenes’ aspects. He gathered information for all of the job requests the club had during the week, organized the schedule, handled the money, negotiated rates—he didn’t want to deal with any kids, but Steve argued he still deserved an even share of their earnings. 

He wasn’t nearly as organized as Bruce. The club wouldn’t have gotten as far as it did without him.

“I’m surprised anyone trusts you with their children to begin with, Stark.”

Steve closes his eyes. He knows without a doubt that it was Loki, knowing it was better to ignore it than engage. Tony, however, had an infinity for confrontation. Steve saw the fight brewing before Tony’s jaw set the way it did when he was annoyed, pointing condescendingly in Loki’s direction.

“Why is he here?”

Loki snorts. “I live here.”

“ _Enough_ ,” Steve barks, a littler harder than he meant to. “Look, Tony, just work on parent satisfaction this week, okay? We have other things we need to move on to.”  
Tony makes another face at Loki before turning away. Loki snickers, reaching for another piece of pizza. Steve turns his attention on the whiteboard, setting up the schedule for the week. It was easier to put who was available what days and let Bruce organize the rest.

“He takes this all very seriously, doesn’t he?” Loki murmurs— _rather loudly_ , Steve thinks bitterly—to Bucky who doesn’t look up from his phone.

“You’re gonna--”

Steve gives Loki his best glare. “Do you mind? I can’t tell you to leave, but this is kind of important.”

“--piss him off.”

Everyone falls quiet, staring between Steve and Loki. Thor clears his throat. Loki smiles innocently up at Steve. At least—he’d look innocent if he didn’t look so damn pleased with himself. Steve could care less whether Loki thought their club was ridiculous or not. But he wasn’t about to just let Loki mock them in the middle of a meeting.

“I didn’t mean to upset you,” Loki says. His gleeful tone makes Steve doubt that. “I know as ‘President’ of your little organization that you take pride in your work, Rogers.”

“Well _you_ certainly take pride in riling up everyone here.”

Loki laughs, clearly delighted at getting a rise out of him. Steve flushes a deep red.

“You think this is easy?” Steve says, crossing his arms. “I’d like to see you try it.”

“Take care of someone else’s ill-behaved children whilst they’re away?” Loki snorts. “I don’t see how you find enjoyment from that.”

“It’s not about--” Steve shakes his head. “It’s a job. Having the club just—makes it fun.”

“You’re right. I shouldn’t tease. Apologies.”

“Loki,” Thor grumbles. Loki’s eyes shoot his brother a sharp look, the expression lightening as soon as he’s looking back up at Steve.

Steve regrets the words before they’re even out of his mouth. Loki just looks so damn smug though and he should’ve smelled trouble before the meeting even started.

“Bet you couldn’t last one shift.”

Natasha coughs, giving Steve a warning look. It was too late though. Loki’s entire being seems to light up, scooting so that he’s no longer lounging back against the armrest. His eyes are glittering with delight.

“A wager then?”

“Okay, now who’s taking this seriously?” Bucky says, setting his phone aside. He meets Loki’s eye. “Look, sexy— _no offense_ —but I don’t see you as much of the nurturing type--”

Loki shoves Bucky’s feet off the couch and he falls over with an ungraceful thud. He pushes himself up into a seated position on the couch, crossing his long legs. Steve’s throat bobs as he swallows. Bucky rolls over with a groan, trying to rearrange himself.

“And what is it you get if you win, Rogers?”

Steve has to think about it. He looks to the rest of the members, most of them shrugging, Clint shaking his head. Well…if anything a new member wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. And it might even make Loki quit and stop bothering them altogether.

“You join the club instead of mooching off our snacks and making commentary.”

Loki seems surprised by this. He considers it, still smirking up at Steve. It occurred to him for a brief second that this might be a _bad_ idea. But Steve was willing to give Loki the benefit of the doubt. The rest of them may not particularly like Loki but Steve never found a reason to dislike him.

If he was honest he might even admit he found Loki attractive. But the personality and whatever it was with Bucky made him—unapproachable.

“Very well,” Loki purrs, resting his chin atop his hands. “And your terms?”

“One job. You get a perfect evaluation and you prove me wrong.” Steve tries to swallow, finding his mouth dry. Loki’s lashes flick against his pale cheek as he blinks. “Anything other than that and…well.”

“I can agree to that,” he responds with a shrug. Loki stands, Steve taken aback as always by how close in height they are. Steve looks down at the long hand that Loki’s extended. “Should we shake on it?”

The rest of the room shifts uncomfortably. Natasha and Thor look annoyed. Thor is glaring daggers at his younger brother, who still looks way too pleased with himself and is seemingly oblivious to Thor being angry with him. Tony and Clint are both shaking their heads ‘no,’ Clint even making slashing motions across his throat. And Bruce looks faintly nauseous. 

Bucky is the only one who seems wholly indifferent and more annoyed by the escalation the argument has taken.

Steve grips Loki’s hand in his own, faintly surprised at how cool it feels. Loki’s face breaks into a grin. They shake, Tony and Clint dramatically collapsing back into their respective seats. The overreaction was a bit much. Steve almost feels embarrassed. 

Loki’s hand pulls away from his own and he crosses his arms behind his back. Steve was surprised Loki was so quick to agree. He’s always shown a strong criticism for the club and Steve assumed it was because Loki just didn’t have any friends of his own. Though if he did somehow win this gamble, then--

Steve blinks. “What about you?”

“Hmm?”

Loki steps over Bucky, moving around the couch and towards the kitchen. Steve watches him, frowning.

“If you get a perfect evaluation, what do you want?”

“What, indeed.”

He throws a sharp-edged grin over his shoulder at him, leaving Steve wondering if he’d just stepped on a land mine. Steve turns back to his friends, all of them staring at him as if he really had stepped on a land mine and they were shell shocked from having watched. Steve clears his throat. His face was feeling hot.

“What’s our toughest job this week?”

Natasha raises an eyebrow, Steve challenging her look. She shakes her head and nudges Bruce who startles. He flips through his phone schedule, brow furrowed. Bruce swallows. “Johnson kids.”

Steve nods.

“Damn, Rogers,” Tony snorts. “That’s low.”

“I never said I didn’t play dirty…” Steve says, his ears still burning. “And—no offense, Thor—but I don’t trust Loki for a second.”

Thor scoffs. “No, it’s best you don’t.”

“Don’t what?” Loki drawls, casually making his way back across the room.

“Do you know where the Johnson’s live?” Steve asks. Loki was _definitely_ sizing Steve up. He could feel the tips of his ears turn red from the way Loki’s eyes raked over him, popping open his soda.

He makes a nonchalant noise in response.

“The three gremlins that live down the street.”

Steve suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. “Their house at five on Friday. Bruce will message you the details.”

“Challenge accepted, Rogers,” Loki says, still grinning. He sips his drink, eyes lit with delight as Steve struggles to break his gaze. And as much as Steve wanted to have the upper-hand he couldn’t help but feel anxiety bubble in his gut.

 

**

 

Steve stares incredulously at the evaluation card Loki had handed him. Everyone had been on time for their meeting this week, meeting at Thor’s house to see how Steve and Loki’s gamble played out. Before Steve was able to even set down his supplies he saw Loki sitting on the couch, looking far too smug for comfort.

His stomach had done a flip.

Loki sat patiently, however, waiting for everyone to take seats around the spacious living room and orient themselves. Bucky was the only one ballsy enough to sit with Loki on the couch, chewing loudly on a piece of pizza Clint had brought.

Steve already knew he was boned.

“He--” Steve feels himself blush, Loki’s eyes burning into him. “He got a perfect evaluation.”

“ _WHAT_?” the rest of them exclaim, all scrambling to grab the card out of Steve’s hand. Natasha manages to grab it first, her brow pinching together as she reads it.

“Only Steve’s ever gotten ten stars from the Johnson’s.”

“Yeah and that was only because Steve’s a freakin’ boy scout,” Tony says.

“Well…” Steve clears his throat. _Shit_. “Loki…you proved me wrong. Sorry I doubted you.”

Loki is radiating glee, pushing himself up off the couch and stepping in Steve’s direction.

“As agreed, then, Rogers?” Loki says. _Dammit_. Steve’s whole face was on fire. “You will pick me up Thursday, at 7. I like pizza, movies, and detest mini golf. However, for you I just may make an exception.”

Loki saunters off with a well-timed smirk in Steve’s direction, making his way up the stairs. One by one everyone turns to look at Steve who was doing everything to keep his face from getting any redder.

“Wait,” Natasha raises a brow with a smirk. “Your gamble was a date?”

Tony starts laughing, Bruce shifting to make an escape just as Tony slings an arm over his shoulder. Steve grumbles to himself, rubbing the back of his neck. Clint and Thor just stand in the middle of the room, looking lost.

Steve had to admit, he was a bit confused when Loki texted him the day before, explaining his terms for their gamble. If he won, he wanted a date with Steve. He’d had no idea how to respond. And really it wasn’t a terrible outcome. Steve could handle spending time with Loki. It was everyone else’s reactions he was worried about.

“Does Loki even _like_ Steve?” Clint asks.

“Does Loki like _anyone_?”

Everyone looks at Thor who looks just as surprised as the rest of them. He shrugs. “How should I know?”

Tony rolls his eyes. “You’re his brother, Hasselhoff, shouldn’t you?”

Steve sighs. He lets them argue it out, figuring it was best to get it out now before they had to have their meeting. Steve starts setting up the white board. Thursday would be here before he knew it. Steve had absolutely no idea what to expect. 

He locks eyes with Bucky and receives a look that says, ‘I told you so,’ before Bucky’s pushing himself off the couch and sauntering after Loki.

 

**

 

“So…” Bucky drawls, leaning in the doorway. “How’d you get the Johnson’s to give you a perfect score?”

Loki doesn’t spare him a glance. He keeps his eyes plastered on the screen, attempting a combo shot meant to put him far above his competition. He swears and visibly slumps when he’s taken out from behind.

“The parents were easy,” Loki says, restarting the round. “It was the kids I had to bribe.”

“Uh-huh.”

Bucky moves into the room, sitting down next to Loki on the floor and reaching for a controller.

“A rated-R movie of their choice and I don’t tell their parents that they’re the ones tearing up flower beds and peeing on garden gnomes.” Loki swears again, waiting for Bucky to plug in before restarting. He sits up and crosses his legs. “They were sworn to secrecy, of course.”

“Wait—who pees on garden gnomes?”

“Gremlins, apparently,” Loki snorts.

Bucky watches his character flit across the screen, trying to keep up with Loki’s. He takes out two or three enemies and watches as Loki attempts another combo but seems dissatisfied when it doesn’t have the results he wanted. Loki restarts the round _again_ , but Bucky doesn’t comment. He just tries to keep up with Loki without being overrun.

“Wouldn’t it have been easier to just—I don’t know—ask Steve out?”

Loki laughs— _cackles_ , more like—at that. He pulls off a combo shot that eliminates the other team, Bucky’s eyebrows shooting up. He doesn’t have time to comment before Loki starts the new round. His eyes are gleaming, smile sharp and reminiscent of a cat that’s caught a mouse.

“Where’s the fun in that?”


End file.
